So, what if Anwar knew of alleged armed forces cartels?

 

My problem is I've got to kick up my points to Tony and on we go with this "thing of ours".

– The Sopranos

See, this is the problem right here. Saying Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the defence minister knew of the alleged armed forces cartels means bupkis. Why?

Because if you served in any high-ranking capacity in the government dealing with the armed forces, you would know of the corruption within the military machine. And this is not solely a “Malaysian” issue.

Everyone knows that there are cartels in every sector of the government bureaucracy. Remember when former inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador wanted everyone to know that there were cartels operating within the Royal Malaysia Police who were linked to political operatives and were up to no good?

More importantly, remember when he said that he had everything under control? How did that work out for him? And keep in mind that the Home Ministry had said then that there were no cartels within the Royal Malaysia Police.

Truth be told, the fact that Madani is even investigating these allegations would be hell freezes over moment except for the reality that Madani cannot have it both ways. It cannot coddle high-ranking political figures on the one hand and go after others and claim that Madani has a zero tolerance for corruption.

This, of course, is not counting the numerous get-out-of-jail cards that have been given to still-serving political operatives aligned to Anwar and Madani.

‘Leakages’ in armed forces

There have always been “leakages” in the armed forces. You do not have to take my word for it. In 2013, former army deputy chief Abdul Ghafir Abdul Hamid claimed, "I have studied this matter and noted the ills in the military.

“The Defence Ministry conducts direct negotiations to purchase capital equipment (military hardware), and this is open to hidden costs, corruption and abuse of funds in military hardware purchase.

"We are not wise in our purchases. The ministry does not consult much with us on our technical evaluation. The decision lies with the person holding the tender bid, and this has resulted in some unwise purchases."

He also said, and I know many other former officers would agree with him, “…that the military camps were like ‘Third World facilities’ that have not been maintained” and "when the men are asked to serve overseas, they are mocked by the international forces".

Ghafir, who led Malaysian peacekeepers in Namibia, said that they took an ambulance van along and it "always broke down".

Political mileage

So, this is not some earth-shattering revelation that the PM and the defence minister knew of such cartels. In fact, the better question would be who in Madani or any of the former administrations did not know of the existence of various cartels within the government machinery?

And if they did not know, then either these people are the most clueless people that ever walked on Malaysian soil, or they did not care or that all those campaign speeches about reforming corrupt systems were merely horse manure.

Of course, claiming that the PM knew of the existence of cartels gets good political mileage, especially now that Madani is despised by its own base.

But the reality is that every former prime minister and defence minister knew about these cartels. Honestly, do you really think that these cartels stopped operating when someone like Mohamad Sabu was the defence minister?

Think about it. Here we have the government in a protracted legal battle with armed forces retirees about their pension schemes, and here we have high-ranking officers with their hands in the cookie jar, living large.

This is why average service men or women think that it is better to feather their own nest because the higher-ups are looking after themselves. This is part of the cycle of life of corruption within the government.

The entire political system of this country is part of a complex ecosystem of private and public interests that seek not only political hegemony but also religious hegemony. We are not dealing with corrupt individuals within a system, but rather a system of corruption with a few honest men and women.

Corruption - part of DNA

Corruption is not a recent phenomenon; it is part of the DNA of the organism, fuelled by racial and religious imperatives and a compromised electoral system.

Let us not forget that when we talk of corruption, we are not only talking about the corruption of the political elites but also of institutions which are considered sacred cows to the bangsa (race) and agama (religion) crowd.

So you see, even though I believe that there are many honest political operatives in Madani, they are outnumbered by people who are willing to make compromises and sustain the system either for political gain or because they are so narcotised by their political party that to make waves would be detrimental to their political survival.

The tragedy here is that Madani is doing something about corruption, albeit nothing that would reform the system. - Mkini

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.